The Day is Coming
by CappuccinoSunshine
Summary: Graduation day is steadily approaching and Kakashi is planning for the change of roles his students will undergo. Secretly unable to handle what is coming, Kakashi keeps his feelings secret, doing unusual things to keep himself above water.
1. Chapter 1

Kakashi slid his hands into his pockets as the rain poured on his head and dripped down his face. Lightning struck trees next to him and threatened to strike him too, but the jounin moved swiftly left and right, effectively dodging all danger.

In the distance were his three young students. Their assignment was to find two bells, hidden somewhere within Konoha boundaries. So far they hadn't any luck. The pink-haired student had come closest though, near the very beginning of the task, when she seemingly spotted one of the bells on Kakashi's person. She had stood and looked at him for a minute, clearly wavering between two courses of action. She had taken a step towards him, and then, apparently thinking better of it, turned and followed Naruto and Sasuke into the forest. Kakashi remembered how intently she had looked at him, and how her cheeks had gained that slight pink tinge.

_She'll be a good ninja_, thought Kakashi, raindrops cascading down his face. Graduation was coming soon and all three of them would no longer be his students. They would be his co-workers. Kakashi sighed to himself and closed his eyes. The bitter cold winds wrapped around him, chilling his body all the way to the bone. No more daily training days with Sakura.

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The pink-haired kunoichi traversed the ground slowly, deadly quiet as she snuck up on her sensei. The rain was slowing down now, and the sun was peeking from behind the clouds. The jounin had closed his eyes. Vigilance was not always his thing…

A leaf crunched under her foot. _Shoot._

Sakura expected to see Kakashi's eyes fly open and have him rallying attacks at her but he did not. His eyes remained closed with his hands dug deep into his pockets. Steadying herself once more, Sakura continued her trajectory. She would have to knock him out cold before reaching for the bell. She steeled herself. _Why would he hide it in such an awkward spot?_

Mere feet from the jounin, Sakura did her sleep jutsu and watched as it made contact with Kakashi. The man didn't move. Sakura smiled. Now time to capture the prey…

Sakura moved swiftly and quickly to the older man. He was completely out. Sakura lightly lifted an arm and placed it to his side, and then lifted his other arm and placed it above his head. Now came the sticky part. Was the bell really hidden there? Was Kakashi just tricking her and trying to embarrass her or something? Sakura shook her head. There was no choice really. She _had_ to do it.

Touching the least amount of him she could, Sakura lifted the corner of his shirt away from his front, revealing a button and zipper. Sakura was suddenly breathing harder and feeling lightheaded. Forcing herself to continue, the young kunoichi skimmed her finger over his waistband and put a finger on the button. Trying not to faint, Sakura reached up with the other hand and held his hip as she undid the button. As it came free, Sakura reached for the zipper and it slid down easily. She carefully looked up for a reaction from her sensei but received none.

Sakura sighed in relief, as though she had suspected him to start yelling and cursing. Her relief was short-lived, however, as she had to return to the task at hand. Sakura could see a bell hung on the back of the button, a long string with silver metal on the end. The string traveled out of sight. Sakura cursed knowing that pulling on the string probably would not extricate the bell from its quarters. Determined to try anyway, Sakura pulled up on the string, her hand accidentally brushing against Kakashi.

Immediately, a loud buzzer went off and Sakura jerked her hand away quickly. Knowing she had gone too far, the pink-haired kunoichi took a step backwards and suddenly a pair of strong hands grabbed her and pulled her into their person.

Sakura screamed. A loud laugh sounded from her captor and Sakura started thrashing, attempting to release her body. In front of her, Kakashi's body turned into a log. Sakura now knew who had hold of her. Face turning a deep shade of red, Sakura ceased her struggles and went limp in his arms, believing she would _never_ recover from this humiliation.

More laughter sounded from her subjugator, laughter that distinctly belonged to Kakashi. He let her slip from his hold and she quickly regained composure, dusting off her dress. She could not believe he did this….

"That was the most immature thing anyone has ever done!" yelled Sakura, her face the deepest shade of tomatoes possible.

Kakashi merely smiled at her reaction. "That sounds like something the kid Sakura would say."

Sakura was inwardly more embarrassed now but did her best not to show it. "Why…why," she huffed, "would you do that?"

Kakashi laughed. "Why? Because you always wanted to know what Icha-Icha Paradise was about. I thought I'd tell as a graduation gift."

"As…as a graduation gift," said Sakura, breathing heavily. His humor was lost on her. She could barely think at the moment, besides for '_stupid, stupid, stupid._'

Somewhere close in the distance Naruto shouted, and a couple seconds later Sasuke and Naruto appeared from the trees.

"Found it," said the blonde gleefully, dropping a bell into Kakashi's palm.

"Knew you would," said Kakashi. "I hid it about fifty feet down in the earth, not nearly enough. Well, congratulations. Unfortunately, however, your counterpart did not have as much luck. That means she's not nearly qualified enough to graduate. Pity."

The jounin smirked. Sakura grimaced slightly and prayed to God that the dark red was lessening, but even she knew her embarrassment was growing stronger.

"What happened, Sakura?" said Sasuke snidely, his arms folded.

"Nothing," Sakura answered, appearing very abashed.

Kakashi stared at her in obvious amusement before stating, "Test over. You guys can have the rest of the day off."

Naruto and Sasuke walked off, the one very excited, the other stalking away as usual. Sakura regained her composure and walked away, very aware of Kakashi's eyes still on her. Pretending to disregard this, she made her way out of the forest and back into the main part of the village, all the way to her house. She thought her face would be forever colored the shade of robust red that it was today. If looks could kill, Kakashi would have been absolutely slayed.

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Please review, everyone. I'll update if you tell me to.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you guys so much for the reviews. I've made this chapter shorter so I could post today instead of later.

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_A Few Months after Graduation_

Sakura looked round quickly as she heard her name shouted. Ino was running swiftly in her direction, decisively dodging people and objects in the way. Sakura stood still and waited until her blonde friend reached her before lying down her shopping bags.

Breathing heavily, Ino skidded to a stop in front of her, hands on her knees. "Tsunade….Tsunade needs….your help."

"What is it?" said Sakura, already anticipating a medical emergency.

"Team…team five just got back from their mission and one of them has been critically hit. The other two are in bad shape as well. Tsunade wouldn't have bothered you on your day off, but there isn't enough of her to go around."

"I'll be there in five minutes. I just need to take these bags back to my apartment."

"There isn't any time for that, I'll do it. You get to the hospital."

Her blonde friend rushed off with Sakura's shopping bags and Sakura headed in the opposite direction toward Konoha's only hospital. These medical emergencies cropped up all the time and Sakura was finding her expertise was becoming more and more needed.

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Sakura had rushed into the hospital wing to find a series of emergencies occurring. It was thanks to her, and her alone, that they were being sorted out and dealt with efficiently and effectively. Although she herself could not see it, her skill was growing with everyday. She was in the processing of saving one ninja's life when Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi came in the doors of the hospital.

"I need more gauze!" the kunoichi cried to the nurses standing around. "And somebody hold him down, I need to intubate!"

Nurses quickly moved to answer Sakura's commands. Sakura had her hands placed on a massive wound, blood spurting in large amounts between her fingers. She waited only a moment for more gauze and then she had taken the situation on herself. With quick, fluent movements, Sakura released the man's wound and did a few very brisk hand signals, creating a jutsu. Thin, slender threads of white intertwined themselves with the gaping wound and partially slowed the flow of blood. Now disregarding the wound entirely, she reached around for the instrument necessary and was on to intubation. Within five seconds she had the man lying completely prostrate on the table. Ordering the nurses to hold his thrashing body still, Sakura easily slid the tube down until she reached the body cavity she was looking for. Satisfied that his breath was coming in even enough amounts, she slid a hand under his shoulder and another hand under his neck. Careful not to rip the filaments covering his dorsal wound, Sakura rolled him partially to discover another cause for distress. The man was bleeding freely from his back. Sakura stared at the new wound for a second before it registered. Then she was yelling.

"I need gauze right now! He has a ventral wound bleeding out!"

Nurses hurried their movement behind her and then Sakura was handed the gauze that was so desperately needed. Sakura placed the gauze onto the ninja's back as nurses removed excessive amounts of blood. Shuffling feet behind her alerted Sakura to Tsunade's presence.

"How bad is it, Sakura? I haven't had any time for him with all the other casualties."

"Bad. He's got at least two major wounds and he wasn't breathing. I'd bet on several internal injuries and his neck has deep purple bruises rising up. I don't know where he came from but somebody did their job well."

"Surgery then? No time for a MRI?"

A large amount of blood erupted through the gauze and sprayed up onto the medic-nins fronts. "Definitely not," Sakura replied, hands back on the victim. She controlled the bleeding to a certain extent and patiently held the wound down. Out of necessity she said, "Somebody needs to cover the front with real gauze, I just made a twin because nobody brought the actual wrappings."

"You made a twin? You haven't been taught to do that yet," said Tsunade in surprise.

"I read it in a book. It's not that complicated. He needs more blood by the way, the chart says B negative. I sent a runner downstairs to get it, but they haven't come back. We might be out."

Tsunade rubbed her forehead in exhaustion. "We were supposed to get more in yesterday but the delivery never came…."

"Tsunade!"

"What? Oh—" said Tsunade and quickly grabbed the gauze from the nurses.

"Cover the front and then we'll roll him out. The surgery will have to be started immediately."

Tsunade wrapped his wound and then reached to detach the table with fumbling fingers. Sakura eyed her acts for a moment before she said, "Stay here and take a break. I'll do the surgery."

"But Sakura…"

"I'll do the surgery. You sit down."

Tsunade fell back into a chair and Sakura rolled the gurney towards the double doors. Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi had been standing watching the scene take place and all three moved aside when Sakura came streaming past. She hadn't even noticed them.

A nurse nudged Tsunade briefly before the woman looked up and responded. "Yes?"

"Has she ever done a surgery of this nature before?"

"No," said Tsunade shortly.

"Don't you think someone should assist—"

"You go. But I doubt she will need any help. She's practiced on cadavers and she's a fast learner. She has instinct for it. She'll be fine."

The nurse nodded in affirmative and then quickly left the room.

Tsunade sighed and held her head in her hands. Exhaustion and overwork were blatantly displayed on her features. The hospital doors burst open again and a young EMT ran in.

"We're out," she said, gasping for air. "There's no more blood in the bank."

"Alright," said Tsunade rising to her feet. "Is anyone here B negative?"

Kakashi came forward. "I am."

Tsunade glanced towards him. "Alright. You're coming with me."

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Please review everyone. And yes, I realize there was not a lot of Kakashi/Sakura action here but it will come in due time.


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